Businesses buy SEO backlinks to quickly improve their website’s search engine ranking and overall visibility. Backlinks from high-authority sites can significantly boost credibility, relevance, and trustworthiness.
In this article, we discuss how this technique can boost SEO rankings, how to buy backlinks, and its pros and cons.
Key Takeaways
- Buying backlinks for SEO can boost rankings on search engine results pages and increase authority and credibility.
- Google’s spam policy states that “buying or selling links for ranking purposes” is an example of link spam.
- Organic link-building techniques are much less risky and more effective for long-term success.
Table of Contents
What Is Backlinks Buying?
Buying backlinks for SEO is a way to improve your standing as an expert in your industry, even without building up extensive website content — which takes a lot of work. While you can have a comprehensive library of articles that receive a steady amount of traffic, it may still take months or years to achieve the highest ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
When you buy a backlink, you pay for companies to link to your website within the context of their high-quality, high-ranking, and high-authority content. Backlinks are crucial to a successful SEO strategy; the more you have, the higher you rank.
How Does Buying Backlinks Work With Google?
Before Google’s algorithm update, backlink buying was rampant, with website owners eager to do anything to rank high on search engine results and gain clicks and ad revenue. However, this didn’t mean they had reliable or valuable content on their sites.
In 2012, Google made it its mission to improve the quality of user searches by launching the Penguin algorithm update, which sets higher standards for search results. This update tracked down unnatural, deceptive, or manipulative web pages and penalized them with poor rankings or removed them from results pages entirely. While this didn’t completely discourage buying backlinks, it motivated website owners and marketers to create better material to rank well on search engines organically.
Today, Google’s spam policy states that “buying or selling links for ranking purposes” is an example of link spam. It also says: “Google does understand that buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web for advertising and sponsorship purposes. It's not a violation of our policies to have such links as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute value to the <a> tag.”
However, many website owners and marketers still take the risk of a possible penalty — in a survey of over 700 link builders, more than 70% said they pay for links.
Can Business Owners Buy Backlinks?
The short answer is yes. While many SEO practices have evolved over the years, backlink buying remains a viable option for boosting search engine rankings and promoting content.
You can partner with other businesses looking to improve their online presence through SEO and content marketing and exchange links. You can also buy backlinks outright from link builders.
Why Businesses Buy Backlinks
While there is a risk of search engine algorithms penalizing backlink use, many have found success in buying backlinks. Google’s policies haven’t eliminated the practice of purchasing backlinks. Instead, SEO specialists and content writers have become adept at utilizing backlinks to create and maintain a network of resources to improve their web page rankings.
Here are the reasons why website owners and marketers buy backlinks:
- When you buy backlinks for SEO, you save a lot of time and resources. It invites more visitors to your website to peruse your content with much less effort compared to organic tactics.
- Extensive backlink profiles lead to substantial results — Google's #1 search result has 3.8x more backlinks than lower-ranking pages.
- Website visitors benefit from blog content they can trust, which encourages them to browse more of your website. This leads to more engagement and conversions.
- You can build up a reliable network by working with influential content creators or inviting industry experts for guest columns. If they’re also developing their own website content, you can create reciprocal links that benefit both parties and your shared audience.
Different Kinds of Backlinks
These are the four main types of backlinks:
Type of Backlink | Description |
Natural |
|
Editorial |
|
Manually Built |
|
Broken Link Backlinks |
|
Algorithms also categorize links into two main types:
- Dofollow Link: Also known as sponsored links, this type of backlink informs algorithms that the resource is being advertised or sponsored, as arranged by the two website owners.
- Nofollow Link: This informs search engine algorithms that the connection between the two websites is purely for reference, and neither endorses the other.
Search engine algorithms are constantly changing. For now, dofollow or sponsored links can still receive ranking credit. This means consistently creating high-quality, relevant, engaging content works alongside careful backlink buying.
How To Buy High-Quality Backlinks in 5 Steps
Now that you know how backlinks can benefit your brand, how do you integrate them into your marketing strategy? Here are the steps on how to buy backlinks for SEO:
- Step #1: Prepare the appropriate content
- Step #2: Source websites accepting backlink advertising
- Step #3: Partner with bloggers
- Step #4: Optimize your anchor text for backlinks
- Step #5: Apply quality backlinks to your existing keywords
Step #1: Prepare the Appropriate Content
Before anything else, conduct thorough SEO keyword research to determine the following:
- What type of backlinks do you need, and for which keywords?
- Do you have existing content that you can use for SEO backlinks? Which of them can you boost?
- Which websites would be the best candidates to link from? How are their domains rated?
Setting up your potential backlinks is an essential part of an effective strategy. Take inventory of your current material and choose the most valuable content to push to your target audience.
Step #2: Source Websites Accepting Backlink Advertising
After thoroughly analyzing your backlink needs, you can start looking for high-quality backlink options. Your audience’s needs must be the center of your backlink strategy, which you can investigate by asking the following:
- What information would potential customers want to learn?
- Who would they trust to give them this information?
- What is the most efficient way to share your content with them?
Consider the websites, platforms, and industry professionals crafting the material for your sponsored content. This means sifting through their portfolios, existing articles, and audience to see how well they match your own.
Step #3: Partner with Bloggers
If you need to improve your existing content, work with experienced content creators to craft high-quality material for you. You can also reach out to experts who can talk about important topics in your industry.
Consider the following as you develop your SEO content strategy for backlinks:
- Think of your long-term content plans and how you can develop a roster of articles that will help your audience for years to come.
- Be prepared to update your articles as needed to keep them relevant and timely.
Step #4: Optimize Your Anchor Text for Backlinks
Apply best practices to your keywords and anchor text. Make sure the keywords are relevant and descriptive, and the anchor text should fit naturally in the content so it won’t look like spam. Additionally, use variations in your anchor text and avoid using the same keywords repeatedly, which can trigger search engine penalties.
Step #5: Apply Quality Backlinks to Your Existing Keywords
Be as discerning as possible with the backlinks you buy. Make sure they will be viewed well by search engine algorithms, and, more importantly, by your audience. When Google and your web visitors determine that your content is trustworthy, it will improve your brand’s standing as a credible source and encourage users to browse more of your content.
Should You Buy SEO Backlinks?
Buying backlinks can be risky. Search engine algorithms and manual reviewers can detect low-quality links and will not count them toward your SERP performance. This means you’ve wasted money on links that won’t benefit your site at all. In extreme cases, you may be penalized.
Organic link-building is still undoubtedly the safest and most effective strategy. Build relationships with experts, influencers, and other authorities in your industry and earn backlinks through collaborations.
Buying Backlinks for SEO: Key Takeaways
With high-authority backlinks, you can boost your SEO strategy and establish your position as a reliable source with a robust collection of content. Google’s policies discourage the practice of buying backlinks, so it remains a risky practice.
Enhance your content strategy and work with the top SEO companies to boost your rankings in SERPs.
Buying Backlinks for SEO FAQs
1. Is it OK to pay for backlinks?
Paying for backlinks brings fast results, but you must ensure you’re paying for ones that aren’t damaging to your website. Generally speaking, it’s better to focus on organic, high-quality link-building strategies.
2. How much does a backlink cost for SEO?
The average cost of a backlink is $83. The price depends on the authority and relevance of the linking site, the competitiveness of your niche, and the specific arrangement you make with the linking site.
3. Does Google allow buying backlinks?
Google’s spam policy states that “buying or selling links for ranking purposes” is an example of link spam.
